George C. Maynard (1839-1918) started as a Civil War telegraph operator, worked for Western Union, and then the U.S. Army Signal Corps developing a system to report weather by telegraph. He moved to Washington, D.C. and worked installing electricity and private alarms until Alexander Graham Bell recruited him to help promote the telephone in Washington. Maynard successfully brought the telephone to D.C. but not without competition from Thomas Edison. Maynard then helped bring electric power to Washington by establishing a National Electric Company. Later, he was curator at the National Museum (now the Arts and Industries Building at the Smithsonian Institution), where he documented the growth of the telecommunications and electricity industry.

The journal contains a record of documents pertaining to the founding of the National Electric Company, including the Certificate of Incorporation (p. 7-8), company by-laws (p. 13-17), the form of a stock certificate (p.18-19). The documents span the first thirty six pages of the book, as well as pages 100-107.

The notebook contains many notes regarding electricity and telephones in various cities around the United States. Many notes refer to businesses related to these industries. “Think WU Co [Western Union] getting stronger and Bell Co. weaker judging by activity of WU in local Co...”

This book includes information on the location and composition of lightning rods around Washington D.C. Some of these locations are the War Department, Department of the Navy, and the new British legation which was still under construction.

The documents contain handwritten details on different areas of Maynard’s new dream house in Washington, D.C. The plans go into specifics of multiple rooms, as well as a general plan of the house itself.